Ireland faces EU action on renewables permits
The European Commission has stepped up infringement action against Ireland over a directive on renewable energy.
It has also opened proceedings against Ireland in several other cases by sending letters of formal notice.
The commission has decided to send a reasoned opinion to Ireland for failing to fully transpose into national law the provisions of the revised Renewable Energy Directive related to the simplification and acceleration of procedures for granting planning permission.
The EU body had sent a letter of formal notice to Ireland on the issue last year but said today (17 July) that Ireland had not yet fully transposed the relevant provisions.
Ireland now has two months to take the necessary measures or face being referred to the EU’s Court of Justice.
Property services
The commission has also opened proceedings against Ireland over what it says is a breach of a directive on services in the EU’s internal market.
The EU body argues that the frequent renewal of authorisations imposed by Ireland on established property-service providers is “unjustified and disproportionate”.
“Moreover, the cross-border provision of property services on a temporary basis without establishment in Ireland is only permitted if the member state of establishment regulates property services in the same manner as Ireland – namely by requiring an authorisation and a client-protection scheme,” the commission adds.
Drinking water
Ireland is also one of three countries that have been sent letters of formal notice for failing to correctly transpose the Drinking Water Directive into national law.
Its concerns about Ireland centre on the measures to be taken in cases of potential danger to human health from drinking water, when it is temporarily not in compliance with the standards of the directive.
Ireland is one of nine countries that the commission says are breaching the Methane Regulation on methane emissions by failing to appoint a competent authority responsible for monitoring and enforcing the rules.
Customs data
The EU body has also found shortcomings in how Ireland is implementing regulations on customs data, saying that Ireland is one of six member states using “outdated formats” and providing “reduced datasets” to send data to an EU-operated digital system.
Finally, the commission says that Ireland has failed to comply with its obligations under a regulation covering Europe’s anti-fraud office (OLAF), which requires member states to provide OLAF with certain information on bank accounts and transactions.
Noting that the requirements have been in force since January 2021, it says that Ireland has not yet notified OLAF of a national authority that can provide it with such information.